Where do the tears of Tisha B’Av fit within the flood of tears recently engulfing our people?
The war that began on Simchat Torah of 2023 has completely upended the dynamic of the region in Israel’s favor, hobbling Iran and its proxies, but along with that battlefield victory has come – per Hamas’ intention and design – an epic human tragedy in Gaza and a precipitous loss of respect for Israel’s morality. It is heartbreaking to consider the devastating impact on innocents, and we admire Israel’s concerted efforts to mitigate that impact. And it is astounding to hear pundits and politicians, some ignorantly, some piously, and too many maliciously, ascribe to Israel the worst intentions and all responsibility while ignoring the simple fact that Hamas initiated this war and its suffering and could end it tomorrow – but chooses not to.
We categorically reject the accusations of genocide and deliberate starvation leveled at the only force in the region that strives to abide by internationally accepted laws of war on a battlefield never faced by another modern army and to live up to its own self-imposed higher standard of tohar ha’neshek, purity of arms. Even as Israel expands its efforts to address food insecurity in Gaza, it must be recognized that the IDF has already delivered more humanitarian aid to Gaza than any military in history has provided to an enemy population during wartime.
But the truth hardly matters. Instead of achieving the prophetic vision of Jerusalem’s peace and justice radiating beyond its natural boundaries, it is the United Nations and its obsessive demonization and delegitimization of Israel that has conquered the minds and hearts of the world, darkening the light unto the nations. That is deeply painful and consequential. “Chillul Hashem is the same whether inadvertent or deliberate” (Avot 4:5). Battlefield and strategic errors committed during an incredibly complex and overwhelmingly successful military campaign can nevertheless result in the inestimable loss of moral high ground, a loss worthy of Tisha B’Av grief.
It is on Tisha B’Av that we commemorate the tragic losses of blood and treasure sustained by the Jewish people from biblical times to the Crusades to the Holocaust and now, to October 7, but the day’s primary focus is on the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem, the ultimate Chillul Hashem. That loss steeply downgraded our religious and ethical role and jeopardized the Jewish and Abrahamic mission to bring the G-d of the heavens down to earth and uplift the world’s faith and morality. The light unto the nations was dimmed.
What contributed to this downgrade of our religious and ethical standing?
Our tradition blames it on the libelous claims leveled against G-d and the land of Israel on the original night of Tisha B’Av, when we wept in despair after hearing from the spies sent to explore the land of Israel. “You wept over nothing; I will give you cause for weeping for generations to come.” In a complete inversion of reality, we cast G-d as hateful and the land of Israel as forbidding. G-d in His ultimate kindness had rescued us from bondage and miraculously set us on the road to the promised land flowing with milk and honey, but we chose to view Him as hostile and disdained His gift of Israel, portraying the attractive, good, and generous land of Israel, the eretz chemda tova u’rchava, as overwhelming and unhospitable, consuming its inhabitants rather than nurturing their growth. We were the original CNN and New York Times, creating a false narrative of Chillul Hashem in which we told the world and each other that the hero was the villain, and the source of the world’s blessing was a fount of evil. Our assault on the good name of G-d and of the land of Israel ultimately cost us our own good name when G-d’s visible association with us was severed with the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash.
The Jewish people are comprised of many camps and tribes, each with its passions and priorities directing its role within our nation and holy land. Especially during the past few years, those passions and priorities have collided in profound and deeply painful ways leading us to scream out against one another and cast the other as villain, unworthy of a good name. And now we are left having lost our collective good name; the world fails to see G-d either dwelling in our midst or reflected in our values.
Over this we weep; but we can also try to fix. We may justifiably scream and accuse, but perhaps on Tisha B’Av we can pause to see the value of each other and the presence of Hashem that remains within each and every one of us. In the words of the Rebbe Rav Elimelech of Lizhensk, we can pray that G-d place in our hearts the ability to see not the faults but the positive qualities of each other, “for who is like Your people Israel, a unique nation on earth?” And we can build towards a near future where Klal Yisrael as a whole and every one of us individually will be a source of strength and comfort for each other and of Kiddush Hashem, deserving of the admiration and appreciation of G-d and man, “Yisrael asher b’cha etpa’eir.”
Rabbi Hauer’s Kinnot program will take place on Sunday, August 3rd, at 9:30 AM EDT through 1:45 PM EDT and is titled “Ve’shachanti B’tocham: Rav Shlomo Wolbe: A Lifetime Confronting Churban.” To watch live, please follow this link.
To call in, please call +1 646-931-3860 (US) or +972-2-376-4510 (Israel).
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Meeting ID: 863 9901 7187